Valve means for railway car trainline

ABSTRACT

A trainline for a railway car has a ball valve structure adjacent the end of the car movable between open and closed positions for controlling the flow of air through the trainline. A ball valve element is mounted within the body of the ball valve structure and is freely floating therein for maintaining a tight seal against the downstream seat when the valve is in closed position. Opposed stems for rotating the ball valve element are mounted on opposed sides of the valve body and extend from the valve body in a generally horizontal direction. An actuating rod is connected to each stem and extends to the adjacent side of the railway car so that the valve may be actuated from either side of the railway car. Actuation of one rod effects simultaneous actuation of the other rod.

United States Patent 191 Kolb et a1.

1 1 VALVE MEANS FOR RAILWAY CAR TRAINLINE [75] inventors: John P. Kolb,StaiTord; Richard G.

Powell, Houston, both of Tex.

[73] Assignee: ACF Industries incorporated, New

York, N.Y.

[22] Filed: June 1, 1973 [2]] Appl. No.: 365,887

[58] Field of Search 213/1 R, 1.3, 76; 137/349; 251/236, 238, 243, 249,287, 288, 289;

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,204,176 11/1916 Mitchelll37/349 11 3,812,980 May 28, E974 3,662,899 5/1972 Randolph ct al.213/76 X Primary Examiner-M. Henson Wood, Jr. Assistant Examiner-Gene A.Church Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Eugene N. Riddle [57] ABSTRAQT tend fromthe valve body in a generally horizontal direction. An actuating rod isconnected to each stem and extends to the adjacent side of the railwaycar so that the valve may be actuatedfrom either side of the railwaycar. Actuation of one rod effects simultaneous actuation of the otherrod.

1,263,692 4/1918 Martin 3,375,849 4/1968 Sw artz 251/289 6 Claims, 11Drawing Figures ll: T l "l 2 l l u... F: I I I l l 20 llls. ll m, I J. Ll1 l4 g [2 9 4 90 l6 8 92 l l as 86 l L -L l. 4Q ee i 22 2 1 I i 1 VALVEMEANS FOR RAILWAY CAR TRAINLINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION member. Thestems of the valve structure of Mitchell are fixed to the rotating plugmember and no relative movement is permitted between the plug membersand the stems.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION The trainline has a ball valvestructure adjacent the end of the car in which a ball valve element ismounted for rotation between open and closed positions. The ball valvemember is freely floating within the'body of the valve and has opposedslots on opposite sides thereof. Stems extending through the valve bodyflt loosely in the slots so that the valve ball member may move relativeto the stems. Thus, upon the closing of the ball valve member, pressureresulting from air within the trainline urges the ball valve elementtightly against the downstream seat so that an effective seating andscaling is provided by the ball valve element.

Actuating means are provided to actuate the valve from either sideof'the car and comprise a universal connection on the extending end ofeach stem of the ball valve. Telescoping rod members extend from theuniversal connection of each stem to the adjacent ends of the carwhereby the valve may may be actuated from either side of the car. 4

The present invention is adapted for use with railway cars havingconventional draft gear, and also for railway cars having so-called endof car cushioning in which the coupler shank may move inwardly as muchas inches. The valve structure may be connected or secured beneath thecoupler carrier and this is particularly useful when conventional draftgear is employed. In the event a long travel cushion device is employedwith the coupler moving as much as 15 inches, it is desirable to mountthe valve member beneath the coupler shank. An embodiment showing theactuating means and valve structure for a railway car employing a longtravel end of car cushioning device is disclosed in which the valvestructure is connected to the shank of the coupler. Means are providedto releasably hold the valve in open and closed positions so as towithstand shock and jars to which the railway car is normally subjected.

In the accompanying drawings, in which two of various possibleembodiments of the invention are illustrated,

FIG. 1 is a partial end elevation of a railway car illustrating anembodiment of the valve structure which is secured to the couplercarrier beneath the coupler;

FIG. 2 is a transverse section of the valve structure illustrated inFIG. I and showing means mounting the valve structure to the couplercarrier;

FIG. 3 is a partial top plan view showing the valve structure andactuating means therefor;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of means for releasably holding the valvemember in open and closed positions, certain parts being shown inelevation;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the valve structure shown inFIGS. 1-4;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view taken generally along line 66 of FIG. 4;

FIG.'7 is a partial end elevation illustrating the movement'of thereleasable means for holding the ball valve element in the open andclosed positions thereof;

FIG. 8 is an elevational view illustrating the specific means formounting the valve structure beneath the coupler carrier;

FIG. 9 is a side elevation of another embodiment of the valve structureemployed with a long travel cushion device and showing the valvestructure mounted beneath the coupler shank;

FIG. 16) is a top plan illustrating the valve structure shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is an end elevation of the valve structure shown in FIG. 9.

Referring now to the drawings for a better understanding of theinvention and more particularly to the embodiment shownin FIGS. 1-8, arailway car is generally indicated 10 having a longitudinally extendingcenter sill 12. An end sill 14 extends between the sides of the railwaycanAcoupler carrier 16 extends between the sides of center sill 12. Acoupler generally designated 18 has a coupler shank 20 supported oncoupler carrier 16 and a coupler head 22 which is adapted to beconnected to an adjacent car. A key 24 connects coupler shank 20 to ayoke 26 of a conventional draft gear indicated generally at 27.

A trainline 28 extends the length of the car and has a flexible hose 30at its end with a gladhand 32 which is adapted to be connected to acomplementary gladhand on an adjacent railway car. A chain 34 supportsflexible hose 30 from coupler head 22. Secured to coupler carrier 16 isa bracket 36 having a downwardly extending plate 38 thereon as shownparticularly in FIG. 8. The valve structure generally indicated 40 hasan upstanding flange 42 which laps plate 38 and is secured thereto bysuitable nut and bolt combinations 44. Valve structure 40 is formed oftwo body portions 46 and 48 having respective mating faces 50 and 52inclined at 45 with respect to the longitudinal axis of valve structure40. Flange 42 is secured to body portion 46 and laps plate 38 asmentioned above. Flange 54 of body portion 48 terminates below plate 38.A fluid passageway 56 is provided in body portion 46 and a fluidpassageway 58 is provided in body portion 48. A valve chamber is formedby body portions 46 and 48 and annular valve seats 60 are mounted onopposed sides of the valve chamber.'Mounted within the valve chamberis'a ball valve element 62 having a fluid passageway 64 therethroughadapted for alignment with passageways 56 and'58 when in open position.Ball valve element 62 has elongated slots 66 formed on opposed sides ofball valve element 62. A stem bore 68 is provided in each body portion46, 48 and a stem indicated generally at 70 is mounted within each bore68. It is to be understood that each valve stem 70 is identical and onlyone is described in detail for purpose of illustration only.

Each stem 70 has an enlarged flange 72 mounted within an enlarged bore74 and having an annular sealing member 76 adjacent flange 72. A nut 78is threaded onto the outer end portion of stem 70 and has a resilientseal 80 between nut 78 and the adjacent valve body whereby upontightening of nut 78, flange 72 is drawn tight against seal 76. Eachstem 70 has an inner extending tongue 82 which fits within theassociated elongated slot 66 for rotation of valve ball element 62 uponrotation of either stem 70. It is apparent that valve element 62 freelyfloating and is not fixed within the valve chamber. Thus, as shown inFIG. 5 in the closed position, air pressure against the adjacent face ofball valve element 62 will urge ball valve element 62 tightly intoengagement with the downstream seat 60 with ball valve element 62 movingrelative to stems 70.

For rotation of valve ball element 62 between open and closed positions,and referring particularly to FIGS. 1, 4 and 8, a universal typeconnection generally indicated 84 is connected to each stem 70. Rod 88is hollow and has a generally rectangular cross section to receive rod86 in sliding relative relation. A universal connection 90 is secured toan end of rod 88 and a manually operated handle 92 is connected touniversal connection 90. In the position of FIG. I, handle 92 is shownin a down position engaging a stop 94 on the side ofa railway car. Inthe position shown in FIG. 3, handle 92 is shown in a generallyhorizontal position and engaging stop 96. A compression spring 98extends about handle 92 and continuously urges handle 92 outwardly toremove any excess slack. In the position of FIG. 1, valve element 62 isin a closed position and in the position of FIG. 3, valve element 62 isin an open position.

Referring particularly to FIGS. 4, 6 and 7, a structure is illustratedwhich releasably holds valve element 62 in open and closed positions. Abail structure generally indicated 100 has arms 102 with openings of arectangular dimension receiving stems 70. Ball detents 106 projectoutwardly from the valve body and are spring urged by springs 108outwardly of the adjacent surface of the valve body. Extending betweenarms 102 is bail 110 having an inturned edge portion 112 adapted toengage ball 106 as shown specifically in FIG. 6 thereby to releasablyhold valve element 62 in open and closed positions. A railway car hasshocks and jars exerted against it and it is necessary that valveelement 62 withstand the shocks and jars to which the railway car issubjected. The rotational force applied by handles 92 is adequate topermit riding of inturned edge portion 112 over the ball 106 to permitball valve element 62 to rotate. lnturned edge portion 112 will likewiseride over the surface of ball 106 and spring 108 will then urge ball 106against the inner surface of inturned edge portion 112 as shown in FIG.6.

Referring now to the embodiment of FIGS. 9-11 in which the presentinvention is adapted for use with a so-called long travel cushion unit,coupler 18A has a relatively long shank 20A which is suitably connectedto an end of car cushion unit (not shown) which may have a travel ofaround inches, for example. In this embodiment, valve structureindicated generally at 40A has an upstanding plate or flange 110 thereonwith an upper flange 112. Upper flange 112 is bolted at 114 What isclaimed is:

1. In a railway car having an underframe including a center sillstructure with an open outer end, a coupler having a shank extendingwithin the open outer end, a trainline extending the length of the carand including an end portion beneath the coupler shank, a valvestructure mounted within the trainline beneath the coupler shank forcontrolling the flow of air through the trainline, said valve structureincluding a valve body, a freely floating spherical ball valve memberwithin said body and having opposed grooves on opposite sides of theball valve member, a separate valve stem extending through the valvebody and fitting within each of said grooves for moving the ball valvemember between open and closed positions, said valve stems havinglongitudinal axes extending perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis ofthe coupler shank, and manual actuating means connected to each valvestem and extending to the adjacent side of the railway car whereby theball valve member may be moved between open and closed positions fromeither side of the railway car.

2. In a railway car as set forth in claim 1 said manual actuating meansincludes a handle adjacent each side of the railway car, rod meansextending between each handle and an adjacent valve stem, and universaltypeconnections between the handle and rod members and between the valvestems and rod members thereby to rotate the stems upon actuation of saidmanual actuating means.

3. In a railway car as set forth in claim 1, said manual actuating meansincludes a handle adjacent each side of the railway car, and stops tocontact the handles at the open and closed positions of the valvemember.

4. In a railway car as set forth in claim 1, means at the open andclosed positions of the ball valve member to releasably hold the ballvalve member in said positions.

5. In a railway car as set forth in claim 4, said means at the open andclosed positions of the ball valve member including a ball structurehaving a pair of parallel arms connected to the valve stems for rotativemovement therewith and a ball member connecting the arms and extendingacross the valve body, and a releasable catch engaging the ball memberat the open and closed positions of the ball valve member to releasablyhold the ball valve member in said positions.

6. In a railway car as set forth in claim 1, said manual actuating meansincludes a handle adjacent each side of the railway car, stops tocontact the handles at the open and closed positions of the valvemember, and spring means to urge the handles outwardly of the car toremove any slack.

1. In a railway car having an underframe including a center sillstructure with an open outer end, a coupler having a shank extendingwithin the open outer end, a trainline extending the length of the carand including an end portion beneath the coupler shank, a valvestructure mounted within the trainline beneath the coupler shank forcontrolling the flow of air through the trainline, said valve structureincluding a valve body, a freely floating spherical ball valve memberwithin saId body and having opposed grooves on opposite sides of theball valve member, a separate valve stem extending through the valvebody and fitting within each of said grooves for moving the ball valvemember between open and closed positions, said valve stems havinglongitudinal axes extending perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis ofthe coupler shank, and manual actuating means connected to each valvestem and extending to the adjacent side of the railway car whereby theball valve member may be moved between open and closed positions fromeither side of the railway car.
 2. In a railway car as set forth inclaim 1 said manual actuating means includes a handle adjacent each sideof the railway car, rod means extending between each handle and anadjacent valve stem, and universal type connections between the handleand rod members and between the valve stems and rod members thereby torotate the stems upon actuation of said manual actuating means.
 3. In arailway car as set forth in claim 1, said manual actuating meansincludes a handle adjacent each side of the railway car, and stops tocontact the handles at the open and closed positions of the valvemember.
 4. In a railway car as set forth in claim 1, means at the openand closed positions of the ball valve member to releasably hold theball valve member in said positions.
 5. In a railway car as set forth inclaim 4, said means at the open and closed positions of the ball valvemember including a ball structure having a pair of parallel armsconnected to the valve stems for rotative movement therewith and a ballmember connecting the arms and extending across the valve body, and areleasable catch engaging the ball member at the open and closedpositions of the ball valve member to releasably hold the ball valvemember in said positions.
 6. In a railway car as set forth in claim 1,said manual actuating means includes a handle adjacent each side of therailway car, stops to contact the handles at the open and closedpositions of the valve member, and spring means to urge the handlesoutwardly of the car to remove any slack.